Turned out, the coach's words proved to be more than a little bit prophetic.

Aside from a few minutes early in the first half, the top-seeded Huskies' defense made the No. 4 Terrapins look like they were swimming in the deep end of the pool -- barely able to keep their heads above water -- in a 76-50 loss at the Webster Bank Arena.

"They make you uncomfortable for 40 minutes," Frese said Saturday. "They have great length, size, physicality, athleticism ... they're just a tremendous defensive team."

Sometimes numbers can be misleading, but not in this case.

Maryland entered the Sweet Sixteen shooting 47.6 percent -- good enough for third in the NCAA -- but was held to 31.1 percent on 19-for-61 shooting by UConn. It was an especially rough game for Terrapins All-American guard Alyssa Thomas, who came in averaging 28.5 points in the tournament. Saturday she was held to 13 points on 4-for-16 shooting.

"They played the same way," said Thomas, who shot 2-for-12 vs. the Huskies in a 63-48 loss on Dec. 3 in Hartford.

"Every shot was contested. It was tough, but that's what we expected."

Even more disconcerting for the Terrapins, they were outrebounded by the Huskies 41-36 after posting the No. 2 rebounding margin (14.3) in the country.

Still, thanks to a couple early 3-pointers by Katie Rutan and Chloe Pavlech, Maryland managed to stay at least within striking distance.

One sequence that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game came when Thomas drove to the lane midway through the first half and her shot was swatted away powerfully by Breanna Stewart.

Stewart then buried an open 3-pointer on the other end to put the Huskies ahead 14-10 and well on their way to an Elite Eight matchup with Kentucky Monday night.

UConn freshman guard Moriah Jefferson also took advantage of Maryland's undermanned backcourt, which had lost three players to knee injuries during the season, harassing the Terrapins' ball handlers during her 26 minutes on the floor.

"Nothing is safe against them," Frese said.

Maryland only trailed 35-26 at the break, but it was far too big a hole to dig out from.

"To be down nine to Connecticut is too big of a gap," Frese said. "I thought we'd come out of the locker room with a lot more energy, but they came out with the knockout punch."

In the first meeting this season Maryland got to within in seven points in the second half. There would be no such repeat performance. UConn used a 19-6 run to start the second half to all but decide it as the Huskies cruised into their eighth straight regional final.

"Connecticut makes great teams look really bad and obviously you saw that on display today," Frese said. "We really struggled against their defense. They made it very difficult."

Saturday proved to be the final game for Maryland senior forward Tianna Hawkins, who finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Hawkins made sure to thank her coaches and teammates for helping her improve to the point where she's expected to be a high pick in the upcoming WNBA draft.

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"They would never let me quit," she said. "I couldn't thank them more than that. I'm going to miss them."